[SOLVED] MOCA - Ethernet & Satelite in opposite 'directions'?

[Barty1884]

Hi all,

Jus trying to figure out if this is possible, or if directions are going to be a deal-breaker...

Background.
In-laws condo is only wired for Coax, and trying to see if we can utilize existing cabling for networking, while not losing existing functionality for satellite TV.
25Mbps service currently (max 75 available!!) and a congested Wifi environment.

Problem I suspect, is they have their ISP coming in from a common area in the building and into a bedroom, and satellite on their balcony.

I had a couple of Actiontec MoCa adapters onhand that I don't use, so I dropped them off yesterday. The more I think about it though, I'm not convinced it's going to work if there's any sort of directionality to them.

https://www.amazon.ca/Actiontec-Bon...ocphy=9001305&hvtargid=pla-570642243311&psc=1


The setup at the moment is:
Satellite dish straight into* set-top box in the living room, then out from the STB through Coax to the bedroom to secondary box (same bedroom where the ISP feed & router is).

*There is another box in another bedroom, but it's feed #1 from the dish (he ran all the feeds, so confident that one works independently).

I'm thinking we could put one of the adapters between the STB in the living room and the coax feed through the house (STB into "Coax in", out from "TV/STB out" into the wall)
On the other end it would feed into a a second adapter in the bedroom via "Coax in", taking "TV/STV Out" to the box in the bedroom and connect Ethernet from the router.

Back in the living room, would that ethernet 'in' from the router actually come back along the line and 'out' of the Ethernet port on that end?

I keep flipping back & forth about whether or not it'll work... and it's bugging me. He won't get a chance to attempt it until the weekend, so it's more for my curiosity at this point.


Probably hard to visualize based on my description.... I've tried to draw it out, but this is the best I can come up with

 

[gggplaya]

The problem is some of these satelite systems use MOCA for their secondary boxes, like the Dish Hopper system. I know for sure that the hopper system conflicts with MOCA ethernet adapters, so that's a no-go.

However, some of these Joey secondary boxes have ethernet/wifi to expand which rooms they can be installed in without having to run cable lines. If you can connect the hopper system to the ethernet, then you could essentially repurpose the coax cable for MOCA ethernet instead and use an access point or switch to connect it all together.

 

[Barty1884]

Thanks @gggplaya

It's not Dish.... its Shaw Direct (Satellite) & Shaw... something else (ISP), up in Canada.

I've read about Dish and incompatibility with MoCa, but I can't find anything about the standards used in order to compare - It's just 'a Dish problem'. I'm sure other providers elsewhere in the world (or even within the US) use a similar setup, but can't find much on it.

However, some of these Joey secondary boxes have ethernet/wifi to expand which rooms they can be installed in without having to run cable lines.

Unfortunately there are no Cat5/6 runs anywhere in the house.... So it's Coax or Wifi - and given it's a congested Wifi setup already, that's likely a no-go. If they can take the signal over ethernet, a couple of switches & MoCa strictly to turn Coax into Ethernet (without satellite), it might work..... I'm not sure if the specific boxes have ethernet ports on them though, I'd have to look.


Assuming no incompatibility, ala Dish, do you think the layout as proposed should just 'work'?

 

[bill001g]

Moca is pretty straight forward when you are using is point to point. The really messy times is when you need to say share the cable that goes outside to a cable company. Then you have to make sure you have filters installed so no signal goes upstream. That is why many moca adapters have 2 coax ports.

This is either going to work or it is not. Since you already have the hardware it is likely simpler to try it and see what happens. Otherwise you need to look up the frequency range used by the set top boxes and see if they overlap the moca.

I know that some of the directtv boxes actually have a ethernet port you can use, using the directtv boxes as moca adapters.....except they run something other than moca that is completely incompatible with moca.

 

[Barty1884]

This is either going to work or it is not. Since you already have the hardware it is likely simpler to try it and see what happens.

Yeah, that's what I'd be doing if it was me..... Going to have to wait until the weekend before I know for sure.

 

[SamirD]

I think it will work. Moca adapters do get confusing, so I understand the whole 'directional' thing.

The I usually straighten this out in my head is to replace a pair of moca adapters in my head with an ethernet wire (which is essentially what a point to point connection will be), and then it quickly will make sense.